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Stephens is now eligible for the death penalty at sentencing, which is set for next week.

Prosecutors said Stephens and Lamar Harris planned to attack McGuinn, but Stephens was acquitted of conspiracy. Harris was found not competent to stand trial.

Stephens could become the first person sentenced to death under Maryland guidelines that were changed two years ago.

Capital punishment is now reserved for murders in which there is a videotaped confession or biological evidence.

The biological evidence in this case was McGuinn's blood on the prisoners' clothes.

Ironically, the conviction came on the same day that as many as 65 delegates in the House co-sponsored a bill to repeal the death penalty.

"This year, for the first time, we've added language that says for some of the money that would be saved by not having the death penalty, we would put money into victim services for the family members, the survivors of people who are murdered," said Maryland State Delegate Sandy Rosenberg.

Lawmakers said the legislation leaves the option of life without the possibility of parole. The issue is now once again stirring debate at the state House.

"If we take that off the table as proposed by some people, we are going to lose that ability to bargain with people," said Delegate Mike McDermott.

Bill supporters argue that the time is right because there is already a de facto moratorium on capital punishment. State officials still haven't decided what chemicals to use in lethal injections. In 2011, there was a nationwide shortage of one part of the three-drug cocktail that Maryland uses.

"If it is carried out, one thing we know, they will never commit that crime again against anybody," McDermott said.

"We're saying life without the possibility of parole is the appropriate sentence," Rosenberg said.

Officials said Stephens has the option of choosing whether the jury or the judge decides his fate. The bill to repeal the death penalty will heard first in the Senate in March.